How likely will my Special parcel be delivered before 9am?

[Jamie_Cast]

Hello I am hoping a helpful postie will reply tonight or in the morning even though its very short notice.

It must have been during the first couple weeks of the lockdown when I read on the RM web that the Guaranteed 1pm service was no longer guaranteed and depending on various factors there could be a high chance of it arriving later than 1pm - basically it meant "dont bother filing for late claims!"

In the same announcement the Guaranteed before 9am service will remain unchanged and so to expect these before 9am as per usual.

During the last few weeks, I have sent and received many 1pm SDs. Half of these took 2 days and the other half arrived next day. Whether they were a day late or not, all of them arrived before 1pm. All I knew was if I needed a parcel to arrive guaranteed the next day then the 9am SD would need to be called for.

And today is that day! I sent a small parcel via the Special Guaranteed by 9am which under normal circumstances I would have still mailed this out with the same 9am service, so at least I knew opting to fork out the extra £15 it will do exactly as it says on the tin.

An hour later I checked the tracking number online and the info on the tracking page confirmed that it will be delivered by 9am in the morning... all is good!

However..... half an hour ago I decided to have a gander at the RM website (mind - not through any links connected to the tracking page) and discovered what I thought was up-to-date SD knowledge had now all changed to:-

The 1pm SD is now technically Guaranteed by 9pm
The 9am SD had now also changed, in other words Guaranteed by 12pm.

I do not know how long these changes have been in effect, and I am also not sure if this means all SD's will be definately delivered the next day with the potential of being a few hours late....

... in the past 2 years pre Covid Phase, I have only had one SD that took 2 days out of over one hundred. Whereas in the last month, I have had approx 10 that has taken 2days out of just over twenty (2 took 3 days).

All I would like to know is, my parcel that I expected to arrive by 9am tomorrow, what are the chances of it being delivered by 9am compared to between 9am and 12pm? Even if it arrives slightly later than 9am, even at 10am will have drastic consequences for me. Realistically, do I stand a good chance of a pre 9am drop or does it depend on many of the usual circumstances inc how busy and understaffed the local RM offices are?

Please dont get me wrong, I know it looks like I am being very fussy over mail arriving during a small time frame but as a regular SD user I have huge respect for all the RM staff that have continued to fight and provide us all with our mail during these trying testing frightful times.

I salute all the RM staff, if we did not have any mail during the lockdown, our country would have fallen apart!

[Munchboii]

9am registers will be prioritised. But theres no guarantee on it getting there on time

[Jamie_Cast]

The parcel actually arrived at 910am this morning.

I have a few pending parcels that I will also need to post out SD 9am during this coming week.

When you say "prioritised" do you mean the same urgency as normal is in effect but due to understaffing issues delays are possible?

[2yearpostie]

The parcel actually arrived at 910am this morning.

I have a few pending parcels that I will also need to post out SD 9am during this coming week.

When you say "prioritised" do you mean the same urgency as normal is in effect but due to understaffing issues delays are possible?

It is number one in the queue to be delivered but it may be 10 or 11am before it gets to where it should be, but it will get there that day.